You mean, all your cat does is try to trip you and scratch/nip you? You have received an inferior cat. A proper cat, in addition to the tripping and scratching and nipping, comes with these built-in features:
Walks across your computer keyboard whenever you are not closely guarding it, causing all manner of interesting windows to appear or disappear on your monitor;
Forceably inserts body between your eyes and any book, magazine or newspaper you are foolish enough to think is more interesting than the cat;
Knocks papers, staplers, and other useful items off desk by stretching out under desk lamp, especially when you are trying to work;
Deliberately bats eyeglasses off bedtable when in Cat’s opinion it is time for you to get up, generally between 5 and 6 am; and
Sticks paw in any glass of liquid left anywhere in the house, with intent to spill.
The above refers only to the basic models. More sophisticated versions, often available to the consumer at no extra charge, will make a bee-line for your best carpet when they need to barf, and thoughtfully sample your food on the dining room table to check for poisoning. Why, MY cat is so advanced that if I wash fresh string beans and leave them out to dry on the kitchen counter, she will scatter them throughtout the house for me, complete with delicate little teeth impressions.
Seriously, cats generally calm down as they age, so if yours is under 3 years old you can expect some improvements on the scratching and biting. Also, kittens have SHARP! teeth and these are not so needle-like as your cat gets older.
Finally, blowing a quick puff of air in their faces usually causes most cats to back off. If you consistently do this when they scratch or bite too hard, they may (or may not) figure out that they need to do this less.
Honestly, sounds from your description that you’ve just got a young and very affectionate cat.
What’s this I hear about an alternative to declawing being cutting the tendons in the cat’s foot!?! Does this not affect other functionality of the foot?
What are the caveats? My cats have been wearing nail caps since kittenhood. I haven’t noticed any problems - is there anything I should be watching out for?
When used “as directed” they are great. I have seen one case of a nail bed infection, but in that case they were left on a loooong time. In my practice, the technicians are skilled at application, but I have seen owners screw things up applying at home.
In addition, certain individual cats do not tolerate them. They spend every waking moment trying to pry them off, and they eventually succeed. Overall I like them.
EDIT: I should mention that all of my experience is with a single brand, “Soft Paws”. I do not know if there are other brands out there.
I typically leave them until they fall off on their own, and reapply once three or four have fallen off (maybe 6-8 weeks on average). If the nail grows out so much that I can cut off the cap without cutting the quick (happens very occasionally, only to one cat), then I will trim them off.
What are the signs of a nail bed infection?
I believe that they are sold under the names “Soft Paws” and “Soft Claws”, but those both seem to be the same company (in fact, there is a graphic on the “Soft Claws” site of a cat thinking “I love my Soft Paws”). They are still under patent, so it’s not terribly surprising that there is only one supplier.
Cool, thanks for the patent info. The signs of a nail bed infection (Paronychia) are hard to miss. Crusty, smelly, gooey nail beds (where the nail originates). They most commonly occur due to fungal infection, or bacterial infection in an immunosuppressed cat.
Buddy is about the most friendly cat one could imagine, and he likes to chase and be chased. For example, when his best friend Scoby the German Sheppard ran into my home followed by another neighbor’s German Sheppard, Buddy immediately joined in the chase – trashing my main room in the process. It was a true WTF moment, seeing two big dogs being chased round and round the room by a housecat. That’s just Buddy’s way of having fun. He does not have an off switch.
He was a stray down at Cloud Bay, where my friend took him in. She had a fox family hanging about her place (we fed them by hand), so the foxes were used to her and her cat. When Buddy came on the scene, he tried playing with the foxes, which did not go at all well, for unlike domesticated dogs that know when they are playing with one of the family, wild foxes don’t cotton to being pounced on by housecats. The foxes thought they were being attacked, when in fact it was just Buddy trying to play with them. A lot of fur flew, but fortunately no one was hurt. The foxes weren’t seen for quite a while after their encounter with Buddy, and I took Buddy up to my place to raise him as a more indoor cat.
Well I’m going to have to take issue with that final statement. It’s easy to break them of the habit. You do it like this:
Trip over the cat for around two years.
Wake up one night and realise you are thirsty.
Leave your warm bed and sleeping cat to stumble off to the kitchen and pour a glass of water. A big one. Ensure you complete this sequence in the dark. Also, do not bother to awaken properly - half asleep will suffice.
Stumble back to bed in the dark tripping over an unexpected kitty, shriek in terror and accidentally dump the water all over him.
